News Comment/COMENTARI AL DIA

The Scottish and Catalan Referendums/ELS REFERÈNDUMS ESCOCÈS I CATALÀ

The Scottish and Catalan Referendums

by Josep C. Verges

Prime Minister Cameron to First Minister Salmond: “I always wanted to show respect to the people of Scotland. They voted for a party that wanted to have a referendum. I’ve made that referendum possible and made sure that it is decisive, it is legal and it is fair.” Below: Parade on the Day of the Spanish Race (12 October).The same day the Scottish referendum was signed justice minister Gallardon said: “Catalan president Artur Mas could be indicte for a crime if he calls for an illegal secessionist referendum. The PP government will sign no agreement on a referendum nor permit this to happen under any circumstances. Spain has no meaning without Catalonia. If Catalonia leaves, Spain goes under.”

Catalonia has the right to hold referendums, one of the few things the Spanish nationalist Constitutional Court forgot to ban. The PSOE government appealed but the PP and PSOE did not paralyse the article. The only obstacle i that permission from Madrid is still required just like London. My proposal: Tie together the two referendums, Catalan and Scottish.

My friend Mohit Santyanand writes from India: “Greetings from Delhi. The surge for Catalonian Independence seems to be gathering strength. I just read your despatch, which talks about a de facto referendum for Independence -which would be called secession in the Indian Union. What is the constitutional status of such a referendum? If the majority of Catalonian residents do vote for Independence, does that in any way force the hand of the State? I would be very interested to know how this works. Trust you are well, and relatively immune to the economic misfortunes of Spain.” Artur Mas had to call elections. Abroad these are seen as constituent elections, a de facto referendum as my Indian friend says. The president of the Catalan Government was obliged to go to the polls because CiU had won with their usual mercenary programme of “fish in the basket,” fish that smells rotten with the corrupt presumed innocent Duran Lleida and the equally innocent millionaire sons of Pujol. CIU also depended on the PP because it had no absolute majority in Parliament. The Catalan elections will be a disaster for the PP for anti-Catalan, anti-economy and anti-everything. CIU will be able to govern with Esquerra and other independence parties if it does not win an absolute majority. A strong mandate, which should be two-thirds of Parliament, is required to call a referendum. Even Mas admits that the objective cannot be to gain independence with 51%. The PP is bleeding votes in Catalonia and throughout Spain. Its majority is fictitious because it is a majority based on empty provinces. With his incompetent management of the Spanish economic crisis and the Catalan political crisis, Rajoy is far from having a Spanish nationalist majority behind him. In addition international markets are forcing Madrid to behave. A country with a de facto and soon de jure intervention, cannot do as it pleases. Europe imposes democracy and the PP will not be able to stop a referendum. Catalonia can play a master stroke by tying the Catalan to the Scottish poll of autumn 2014. The world press would look at both Catalonia and Scotland, making life difficult for Spanish nationalist anti-democrats. The first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond is a follower of Catalonia as the Financial Times highlighted when he won an absolute majority in 2011: “Mr. Salmond has been an applied student. His model is Jordi Pujol, the patriarch of Catalan nationalism and master of ambiguity. The formula was to postpone indefinitely independence but never break with Madrid.” When the then Esquerra leader Josep Lluis Carod Rovira called in distant 2007, before the global crisis, for a referendum on independence by 2014 it seemed a dream. What goes round comes around. The centuries old stupidity of Spanish nationalists in Madrid destroyed the Statute of Catalonia. On top of brutal cuts, the PP protected with Catalan and European taxes their crony banks Bankia and Banco de Valencia, and threw away more billions for high speed trains in the desert. Catalans have had enough of paying through their noses for the make believe centralized empire. In a democracy conflicts are resolved by voting, first in constitutional elections and then in a constitutional referendum, of the Constitution of Catalonia.

Your post on the Catalonian referendum was extremely interesting – thanks for answering my question. Here is the reaction of a very dear friend:

I too have been following this issue of referendum for independence with interest. There has been a renewed talk of independence in Quebec too. I am not comfortable with the idea of independence on the basis of region, religion, ethnicity, language, etc. Independence is a Political concept, and the critical criterion is the underlying political philosophy. And that political philosophy need to outline the space and role of the individual. Otherwise, political ideologies based on group identity can be quite hazardous to the individual. And smaller or more homogeneous the group is, it could pose even greater threat to the individual, who is the smallest minority.

Note from the editor: Of course all referendums are political. Catalan history is little known but the word Parliament comes from Catalan (Meeting to talk things over). The Catalans had a parliament 80 years before the English who copied the format when neighbours of sorts, the Catalans controlling Toulouse and the English Bordeaux at the time. Catalans had their Parliament for 700 years until the French and Spanish Bourbons occupied Catalonia in 1714. By the way Spain was a confederation in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Before that Catalonia was independent. In the Spanish Confederation Catalans were foreigners in Castile and were not allowed in South America. Catalans were as much foreigners as Dutch, Germans or English who also belonged to the Spanish Confederation at times for similar dynastic reasons.

By the way the Swiss would be astonished at your friend’s opinion that small is bad for the individual. Referendums are held several times a year for European, federal, cantonal and local issues. Smallness does not seem to hurt individuals, with huge differences between cantons but also municipalities as the local citizens decide how they are to be ruled.

which had 18,6%, 12,2% and 3,4% of the vote respectively in the 2010 Catalan parliamentary election . However, there is a significant fraction within the Socialist Party supporting the sovereignty of Catalonia within a federalized Spain.